I've created a monster!

I grew up a huge University of Kansas fan, which means I love basketball season. I enjoy KU football too, but I have always loved basketball. I remember the National Championship game of 1988. I was supposed to be sleeping, but I turned the game on my clock radio and secretly listened. When they won, I ran down the hall screaming. My mom was so excited too that I didn't get in trouble.
I remember the excitement of my first basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse. We sat on the very top row. I knew all the players names. I also remember sitting on the hill to watch football games. But, when it came time to go to college, I didn't even consider KU. It was way too big for me... or maybe it was the Campanile superstition: if you walk through the campanile, supposedly, you will never graduate from KU. Regardless, I have continued to be a die-hard Jayhawk fan.

In 2008, when they won the National Championship again, I was pregnant with Tate. I had headphones on my belly so he could listen to the game too. That is until I started jumping around so much they wouldn't stay on! Maybe that's where I went wrong because now he is obsessed with "bay-ball." He is also a fan of the "hawks." Maybe it was taking him to his first basketball game, even though it was a girls' game. He kept pointing at the court and signing "please!" He wanted to go on the court and play too. Santa also got him a basketball goal for Christmas, which he loves to play. Michael taught him to say, "SCORE!" after he shoots.

Tate doesn't get to watch a lot of TV. But when KU basketball is on and he's still awake, he gets to watch too. One night when a game was on, I could not get him to go to sleep. We fought for 30 minutes. I took him out of his room and he saw the game was on. He signed "please, please." I turned the game on his radio and he was asleep within 5 minutes! He's watching a game here. Yesterday morning, he was able to get the TV and the satellite turned on. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "bay-ball."

Tate loves wearing his KU gear: his Jayhawk loniges, skid pants and of course, his stocking cap.

So it appears that I have passed my fan-atics* on to my son. (Not sure that is actually a word, but you get the point.)